eLearning Health Academy highlights educator innovation and student determination
February 14, 2012
Annie Hopper and her team at the UAF College of Rural and Community Development developed and facilitated an eLearning Health Academy for Alaska high school students.
In addition to participating in distance-delivered UAF college courses in their villages,
students were given an opportunity to come to UAF to participate in a university level
course, “HLTH 110- Professional Skills for the Workplace”, and meet their instructor
face to face, practice using distance delivery technology at the UAF Center for Distance
Education, and tour the UAF campus.
Twenty-four high school students signed up to participate in this pilot of the eLearning Health
Academy, and 23 made it to Fairbanks from their villages. Students came from the
Interior, the northwest and the Kuskokwim regions of Alaska.
Two of these rural Alaskan students went to extraordinary measures to participate
in the academy. Their stories are true representations of the Alaskan way when meeting
the challenges of life in the Bush, as well as examples of the power of high school
students who have determined their future goals and are determined to achieve them
regardless of the barriers placed in front of them.
A young female student traveled from her village to spend the winter holiday with
her grandparents in another village and was unable to fly back to her home village
in time to participate in the academy. This student’s uncle drove her 90 miles on
the back of a snow machine in sub-zero temperature to make a pick-up point where a
plane could transport her to Fairbanks. The seventeen year old experienced frostbite
on her cheeks and chin during the trip, whereupon she was taken for medical evaluation
and released. After treatment, the student continued to participate in the academy
and to pursue her career goals despite the obstacles she encountered.
Another student had already taken several health science courses in high school and
has been accepted to UAF next year. She was not able to catch a flight to Fairbanks
from her village due to cold temperatures; small planes do not fly when the temperature
drops lower than 40 degrees below zero. Her determination to attend the academy led
her to find a spot down river that was only -36F below. She then drove her snow machine
10 miles to the pick-up point so that she could catch a flight to Fairbanks. She participated
in the second session of the academy and looks forward attending UAF next year. She
did end up staying an extra two and one-half days in Fairbanks because the temperatures
in her village had dropped to -60F.
Although many outsiders see Alaska as the end of the road, Alaska students see their
road to the future just beginning. It’s just that in Alaska, sometimes you need to
get over a couple of frost heaves to arrive at your destination.